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23/04/2014

Who are the real 'basic bitches'?

'College Humour' have recently uploaded a video entitled 'How To Tell If You're a Basic Bitch'. According to the video, the interests of a 'basic bitch' include: cupcakes, Sex and The City, aggressively branded sweatpants, zumba classes, photo frames that say 'Family' or 'Friends' on them, misquoting Marilyn Monroe at every opportunity, Ugg boots, dressing as a slutty character at Halloween, scented candles, and indulging in the Friends box set.

The basic bitch is apparently pretty much every female age 18 to 25 who, due to social influence and sheer lack of awareness, has failed to distinguish herself from all other 18 to 25-year-old females.

Further investigation into this new cultural phenomenon has led me to Urban Dictionary (the source to explain all new phenomenon), where the earliest definition is all the way back in 2009: A basic bitch is 'a bum-ass woman who think she the shit but really ain't.'

Apparently, a basic bitch is someone who likes what everyone else likes because they have no substance and think it's cool to conform and be like everyone else. Put simply, what the 'bad bitch' does today, her basic counterpart will do tomorrow; making it mainstream, uncool and, well, basic. If those typical interests of a basic bitch are correct then, without even realising it, I am probably classed as a basic bitch. Oh no, my life is over...

So what if I have an obsession with Yankee Candles, my Friends boxset, Carrie Bradshaw, my Ugg boots, cupcakes, and cute photo frames which describe who are in my pictures? That doesn't mean I am any less of a person than those women who refuse to like 'mainstream' things because they want to be unique and 'bad'.

According to one website, the cure to being a basic bitch is to: 'get some actual opinions, innovative ideas, high self confidence, and a grasp of reality, then you're getting somewhere! Like what you want to like! Have lame hobbies, be goofy, be YOU!'Thank you for that, I am sure many women reading this would have had no idea how to go about their lives as a 'bad bitch' without those pearls of wisdom...Just because someone happens to like the things listed as 'basic bitch qualities' does not mean they are without their own opinions, ideas, self confidence and a grasp of reality.Perhaps it's actually those 'bad bitches' who are low in self confidence, original opinions, and have no grasp on reality. If they did, surely they would see that by being derogatory towards others does not make themselves look 'badder'.

There's a thin line between a harmless joke and being outright offensive. Calling someone a basic bitch, depending on the context and your relationship with the person, can be classed as friendly banter. I enjoy a joking around as much as the next person. And I would, in a joking context, call my best friend a basic bitch if she posted on Facebook 'if you can't handle me at my worst then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best'. (Soph, you've been warned haha!) But to label someone you barely know, and judge them on their interests, dress sense and eating habits, is unfair and unwarranted.Of course, most people who refer to others as basic bitches are doing so about their friends in a humorous, light-hearted way. It's those who genuinely believe that they are superior to others because they aren't 'basic' who are letting the side down.

The film Mean Girls portrayed women as being in constant competition with one another, using any excuse or opportunity to get one up on their female counterpart. I thought society had progressed from this warring women era, where women could never get along for fear of losing their place in the pack.Women have a hard enough time defending themselves against the criticism of men who are derogatory about appearance, weight, size, shape, body hair... The last thing the female collective needs is to turn on each other.The irony is, all of these people who are now labelling other women as 'basic bitches' are only doing so because they're jumping on the bandwagon and joining in with what everyone else is doing in order to be perceived as cool. Surely, if the definition and concept is correct, that makes them a basic bitch?If common interests are shared among women this should be the perfect excuse have a night in with copious amounts of cupcakes, Ben & Jerry's, and the Friends and SATC boxsets, not an excuse to try and put yourself on a pedestal as a 'bad bitch'.